Dunne delivers Stroudsburg to MVC title game

STROUDSBURG — Stroudsburg junior Dillon Dunne was perfect through three innings, but he made his best pitch in the sixth.

MIKE KUHNS

STROUDSBURG — Stroudsburg junior Dillon Dunne was perfect through three innings, but he made his best pitch in the sixth.

Dunne got Lehighton senior slugger Jacen Nalesnik to bounce into an inning-ending double play and the top-seeded Mounties advanced to the Mountain Valley Conference title game with an 8-2 victory over the Indians on Tuesday.

Stroudsburg (18-3), winners of the last two conference titles, will take on Pocono Mountain East at 5 p.m. on Thursday at East Stroudsburg South for the championship.

Dunne threw a gem in the semifinal, throwing just 81 pitches — 57 for strikes — scattering five hits and striking out eight. He didn't allow a hit until Anthony Rossino led off the fourth with a bunt single. Of Dunne's five hits he allowed, four came in Lehighton's two-run seventh.

The Mounties gave Dunne a 6-0 lead after two innings — Philip Stokes collected three of his four RBIs in the first two innings and PJ VanOrman's sacrifice fly in the second inning gave Dunne a comfortable 6-0 lead.

"Basically, I just tried to go out and throw strikes," said Dunne, who needed just six pitches to get through the second inning and eight in the third. "If they hit it, they hit it, I'll let my defense take care of it."

Stroudsburg knocked Lehighton (13-8) starter Thatcher David out of the game after two innings, rocking the right-hander for six runs on six hits.

VanOrman collected two hits to go with his sacrifice fly and a walk. The junior catcher had the best seat in the house, catching Dunne.

"He was great," VanOrman said of Dunne's day. "He threw a lot of strikes and kept us in the game."

Lehighton had one last gasp in the sixth when it loaded the bases for Nalesnik. The Lehigh University recruit bounced to David Medrano at third, who stepped on the base and then threw home as VanOrman made the tag for the final out of the inning.

Dunne gave Nalesnik just one fastball all day, forcing him to swing at offspeed pitches if he wanted to put the bat on the ball.

"He's hit enough balls up here in the four years," Stroudsburg coach Stokes said. "He's quite a hitter. I think the way Dillon approached it, and I talked to him yesterday and today, so that he understood what we were trying to do there and I think it worked out for us."

Dunne also gave Stroudsburg an opportunity to win its seventh MVC title under Stokes. To do it, the Mounties will have to beat the Cardinals, a team that has never won a MVC title.

Stroudsburg and Pocono East split two meetings this year — the Cardinals winning 6-5 on April 9 before Stroudsburg rebounded with a 6-2 victory April 30.

Stroudsburg coach Phil Stokes has options for starting pitching, too, after Dunne's complete game. He could turn to senior Philip Stokes or sophomore Mike Nikorak against the Cardinals on Thursday. Nikorak and Joe DePerno combined to beat Pocono East in the second meeting.